Our panelists have gone through and answered the Q+A as best they can for you all!
We are focused on filling technical product/software roles and do not currently hire for sales/partnerships/general admin roles.
We are growing rapidly and hope to continue to broaden the types of positions we can fill. I'd encourage you to sign up for our newsletter and connect with us on LinkedIn to stay up-to-date on new positions as they become available.
Climate People has compiled some of our favorite resources for climate career seekers here and here.
To start off, it’s hard to see these talented folks losing their jobs due to the economy. To find a positive in the negative, it definitely opens up more talent to be available to get into the climate tech space and climate tech is not going anywhere! All skillsets can carry over. Check out these two articles:
I would say that there is resiliency built into some climate tech solutions - e.g. for renewable energy, the need for it isn’t going anywhere. That said, not all companies will make it for reasons that aren’t always related to the validity of the solution areas themselves.
You can utilize companies that our panelists come from!
Climate People: www.climatepeople.com - recruiting solely for climate startups!
Terra.do: https://terra.do/ - a professional network to land the perfect climate job
Also, go through LinkedIn and similar companies will pop up on your screen and you can go down a rabbit hole! You can utilize other resources such as:
VC job boards: e.g. MCJ Job Board, Breakthrough Energy, Lowercarbon Capital. There will be lots of overlap here, but there’s also a huge range of jobs too.
Slack Groups: Work On Climate, ClimateAction.tech, MCJ Collective
Informative newsletters: Climate People, The Climate Capital Stack, Volts, LinkedIn's Leaders In Sustainability, MCJ Climate Voices, Bloomberg Green
Additional: My Climate Journey Podcast, TED Climate, Zero Podcast (by Bloomberg)
This is a wonderful video to watch that would help paint a nice picture of sectors!
Project Drawdown also has a lot on which solution areas could have the biggest impact - e.g. food waste.
Presuming this is for internal comms in your real estate company: Sadly, but also understandably, making it into a financial preposition. Showcasing risk + how it can be minimized, employee retention, reduced waste + more > these are all great, AND they also have financial implications which any business would care about.
All the roles that exist ‘out of climate’ will also exist in climate. E.g. comms, the climate crisis is a communications crisis too, so the roles you have at companies now will most definitely translate often pretty straightly into a more impact driven company (even if they’re not screaming ‘climate company’, it doesn’t need to be climate tech). For example, local roles, groups, municipalities etc are all SO important and valuable, and have a great variety of roles. For partnerships etc, lots of NGOs and advocacy / policy groups will be searching for you, etc.
Absolutely! Seek a career that motivates you!
Don’t be afraid to take time to rest, and be kind to yourself. It’s a step by step process, can be overwhelming, and needs people with energy. The best thing you can do for your future climate role is have the energy to execute it well. Take your time to research and ask all the right questions before committing to your next role to make sure you won’t continue to face this burnout feeling.
Maybe steer away from a climate startup and try looking at climate companies that are a bit more established!
Reach out to companies that have just announced fundraising, and try to flag your interest in interning. Most often, companies DO have the desire for interns, but it’s not a top priority on their hiring list (senior management etc are longer wins + also more strategically important steps for the company after it’s just announced a big raise).
I’m such an advocate for all internships being paid, but also if there are ways you can harness some of what you’re already doing in grad school and work with a company at the same time (e.g. dissertation projects), definitely explore that route. It’s often not a case of they won’t do it, just a case of they haven’t explored it yet.
You can own it!! Ask the questions about the company and what they do! They don’t expect you to understand it completely. You can say you are super interested in getting in the sector, and simply just apply your skillsets! Example: at Climate People we have open Product Manager roles that require agile/SDLC experience! We have open Software Engineer roles that require Java or JavaScript or Python experience! We have open Executive Admins that require experience taking minutes, managing finance books, scheduling travel, creating investor decks, etc. We have open Data Engineer roles that require ETL, ingesting data, and maintaining databases. We have open Head of People roles that requires HR, recruiting and culture building experience. The list goes on and on… all skillsets can apply to any climate job, you don’t need to understand the science behind it to be good at it!
Show that you’re actively exploring - e.g. plenty of free courses on FutureLearn, Coursera, edX etc, which could be 5-10 hours tops. Even if you haven’t finished them, showing that you’re out there and engaging in furthering your climate understanding might help.
Yes, apply! Look at jobs posted for various ClimateTech companies on LinkedIn! Or apply to a job listed at Climate People! There is also a section to just submit your resume! Take a look at www.terra.do and see how they can help your job search and attend one of their live career fairs!
Check out Climate Draft too, they focus on more senior folk.
Age diversity absolutely matters! You could reach out to companies focused on getting candidates into climate and seeing if you could help educate folks on this path! You could also reach out to companies that you could foresee needing your skillset in the near future or in the present day, and network with them online and ask for a meeting! Market yourself and say how you think you could bring value to them!
I think it’s also a case of seeing how you can leverage your experience, network and current position too - if you’re in higher education, could your institution (making a few assumptions here) offer more by way of climate education? Are there engagement programs or ways to bring educational institutions/companies together to further the climate literacy mission? You have a unique vantage point, and climate doesn’t have to be a huge jump away from where you’re already standing. We need you, and yes it can be annoyingly young + tech focused!
https://zopeful.com/course/intro-to-climate
This answer can really vary! A bunch of us had this passion for years but didn’t see the right opportunity or it wasn’t the right time. Once we actively started looking for jobs it could be anywhere from 1 month to 1 year! It depends how hard you market yourself and how much time you spend networking!
I think the more you do, the quicker it can either feel or happen. E.g. if you’re actively engaging in projects, opportunities are more likely to come your way.
We’d recommend leveraging the same resources and following a similar job search format. So much of the advice shared today is transferable and not tech-specific. I’d also highly recommend joining the TOFU community from Alder and Co it’s a climate networking community for people in media/comms/marketing!
Really lean into sharing the experience you’ve had elsewhere - it’s still valid! Climate isn’t some crazy new type of work, so if you have results from other work then definitely put that front and centre. Then yes, JDs are often wish lists, so take it with a pinch of salt!
Often, attitude and initiative (everyone is figuring out this space as they go, to some extent) are compelling factors - if there’s a way for you to demonstrate this in your CV by what you’ve done previously, then that could help.
We need you! I’d swing it into learnings, always. XYZ was something i didn’t like elsewhere >>> ABC was what I learnt I value from the past environment I worked in. Lead with your values.
Here’s a webinar Brendan did on optimizing your LinkedIn profile to help you stand out. LinkedIn operates as a search engine, and you need to have those keywords to be discovered.
I’d encourage you to continue to reach out and apply — it’s truly a numbers game. Here’s some advice and best practices on following up to your job applications.
Climate People recently conducted a survey that pinpoints what employees should be highlighting when looking for a job in this space. The top three takeaways are (see slide 14):
https://www.climatetechcareers.com/ and https://drawdown.org/
100%! I think this is why 600+ registered for this webinar. We’re all on a similar journey where we are trying to make an impact while balancing the anxiety that coincides with our changing climate. I’d highly recommend checking out Pique Action and work from The Garbage Queen - they are very solutions oriented and have tons of great resources for eco anxiety.
It is going to effect many industries negatively, and unfortunately we will continue to see layoffs, but it’s also a huge opening for the climate sector! This is a neat article you can read.
Some of the best content creators are actually curators. You could start with gathering information, then sharing it. It’s a fantastic way to learn, and you’re also not putting any original written content out there (which can be daunting and time consuming).
One would be to volunteer, get involved in uni projects, show that you’re gaining that experience step by step even if you don’t have a whole load yet.
Here is a great page to show you the different sectors.
You can also look at In Climate where they help early-career individuals kickstart their role in ClimateTech.
Sign up for the Climate People Newsletter as well to see hot jobs being posted.
This is a great question! I’d encourage you to ask lots of questions and try to get to the root of their ESG/Sustainability initiatives. Are they genuinely trying to become more sustainable or is it just a greenwashing act? Find sustainability reports, dig deep, and ask for numbers! Employees have a special place where they can hold their company accountable, if you take the job, I’d encourage you to continue following up on this! Project Drawdown has tons of resources for making “every job a climate job.”
MSc!
We’re trying to sell Terra programs to them :)
This really depends on your situation! Can you afford to wait around or do you need to act now? We’d always recommend waiting for a job that speaks to you, but that’s not possible for many people.
Then dive in! Go for it, figuring out out along the way. You don’t need to pick one role or one sector within climate for the rest of your life! It’s HUGE anyway!
So so many! Perhaps figure out a way to truly tailor the way you’re searching? Depending on where you’re based, check out Climate Designers too.
You can make it so that your LinkedIn profile tells recruiters that you are open to work (it will not show anyone who is at your current company)! Networking doesn’t mean that you are looking for a new job, we always encourage people to network even if they are 100% happy in their role!
Yes! We can follow up in email with a longer answer, but definitely send your resume to Climate People!
Anything software related is in need! I’d encourage you to look at job descriptions and see what the most commonly-listed skills are and brush up on those.
The SyKom video we played will be helpful for you! Follow those 5 steps to get started! :)
You can make it so that your LinkedIn profile tells recruiters that you are open to work (it will not show anyone who is at your current company)! I’d recommend doing that and then setting realistic goals and expectations for your search. What do you have time for? If it’s 2 conversations a week, make that a priority and try to achieve it!
This is a little out of our wheelhouse, but I would say that a lot of the job seeker resources still apply here.
This is a really hard one to answer without much context! Please feel free to send some more detail to info@climatepeople.com and we can try to help you out!
Try to get the hiring manager to have a conversation with you! It’s so much easier to impress people face-to-face than it is over a piece of paper/LI profile. Send them a LinkedIn message, see if you have any connections that you can ask for a referral, and always follow up. As Seth said, if you’re getting ignored, 9/10 times it’s because they forgot and not because you’re annoying them! Be persistent!
Why are you reaching out? I’d go the route of joining communities. Personally, I struggle to accept lots of requests which might feel random, but if they’ve come off a workshop or an event or a community then there’s some common ground there to begin with.
:)
There will be even more jobs than there are now! These startups we work with are getting 10-100million in funding in fundraising rounds!! Investors are big time looking at climate right now and large banks have massive ESG/green/sustainable portfolios!
https://www.wpp.com/wpp-iq/2022/climate-change-and-biodiversity
Yes, definitely! A lot of these companies are startups and could use part time help for positions they may not need full time help on quite yet! We would need to know your skillset to be able to recommend how to market yourself best! What type of projects are we talking about? You can email abby@climatepeople.com if you want more advice here since I am not sure how to answer the rest without more background :).
CONNECTIONS!! Making a name for yourself in this space is golden. Meet people, network, and leverage your connections. Always ask for referrals!
Slowly and step by step! I explored it via my own work first, then creating my own thing, then building friendships in the space and also tailoring my social feeds to make it easy to keep up (LinkedIn is great for that). Don’t feel like you have to do ALL the prep, but have a couple of stats, stories or areas that you can speak to + be open about where you’re learning.
This question is very job/skillset-dependent. I’d encourage you to leverage your network and find people in similar positions and learn from their experiences. You should always read the job description and draw parallels between your skillset and prioritize selling those.
Non-competes are no more or less likely in climate tech than any other industry. Just like other industries, their level of enforceability is highly variable depending on your role, the state you live in and your access to trade secrets. In general I would say that don't let a non-compete prevent you from getting into the space. They are generally very hard to enforce.
Climate Tech VC has great breakdowns of where a LOT of the money is going, vs the problem areas. This is just one way to look at it (and doesn’t mean those companies aren’t great) but look for morals + determination to tackle the problem, rather then determination to create the next unicorn :)
Whenever you’re ready! There’s no prerequisite to do a masters for this space, but if there’s one that grabs your attention do it ASAP/when you’re next ready!
Look for chances to take highly operational roles, and look at a lot of deep tech startups where your background will be so valued even for entry level positions. e.g. carbon capture
**A candidate mentioned: Another master's program to consider -- University College Dublin's MSc in Sustainable Development. Offered online with live components with learners from around the world. Connected to UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and SDG Academy. And tuition is US$10,000 whether you are Irish/EU citizen or not.**